MARTINEZ — Steps are being taken in Contra Costa County to ensure that the 1,400 people now held in the county's jails will be able to exercise their right to vote.
Both the sheriff's office and the county public defender are taking part in the effort, which includes posting fliers outlining voting laws in jail housing modules and the lobby of the public defender's office.
Public Defender David Coleman said it's a common misconception that people who have been convicted of a crime can't vote. Laws vary from state to state, and in California, voting rights are denied only to people in state prison or on parole on Election Day. People held in county jails awaiting trial or those on probation are allowed to cast ballots.
"There's a lot of misinformation out there that can be harmful," Coleman said. "Disabling people from civil society, whether it be stopping them from getting jobs or voting, makes them feel more like outsiders. We want people to feel a sense of ownership of society.
"If you participate, you own it, you care about it and you are less likely to harm it."
Sheriff's employees at the county jails have been involved since before the June primary.
Ernesto Lara, a civilian jail specialist for the sheriff's office, hands out voter education literature in the county's three jails and personally notifies inmates of their rights during facility inspections. Lara said he regularly encounters inmates who mistakenly Advertisementbelieve that they can't vote because of a prior or pending felony conviction.
"One man recently was shocked when I told him that he can vote," Lara said. "He's 30 years old — he's been in and out of the criminal system since he was 18 — and he hasn't been voting."
Lara works closely with the County Registrar of Voters to ensure registered voters in the jail are getting their vote-by-mail ballots, and then separates the completed ballots from regular outgoing mail so they are delivered before election deadlines.
Since September, Lara said he's received 28 registration cards from inmates in Martinez, six on one day alone last week. In addition to an exciting presidential race, the ballot includes three state criminal justice initiatives that change penalties for certain crimes and should be of interest to inmates this season, Coleman said.
"I received a thank-you note from a combat veteran who said he was grateful for us for going out of our way to ensure his voice is getting heard," Lara said. "It's things like that that makes me think we are doing a good job here."
Not every county takes a proactive approach to engaging inmates in the election process, according to Linda Evans with All of Us or None, an organization of past and current prisoners who work to protect their legal services. The group, which is also trying to set up a voter registration table outside Santa Rita Jail for the friends and relatives of prisoners, is part of the larger Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.
The group is investigating a claim by 15 inmates in Santa Clara County that their requests to jail administration and county elections officials for registration cards were ignored. She's also working to change a line in the Los Angeles County inmate voter guide — linked to the Secretary of State's Web site — that reads "You cannot register to vote if you are an inmate currently convicted of a felony." It's wrong, Evans said, in light that some felony convictions result in jail time and not a prison sentence.
Evans said when she was released from federal prison, she was told by her parole officer that she would never vote again.
"We believe everyone who is residing in the state of California has a right to vote, including prisoners, but that's a long way off," Evans said. "We want them to know today to enforce the law as it's been affirmed by the state Supreme Court of California."
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